We've often been asked how our four cats get along, and how the famous introduction between them went. Cats are notorious for being territorial with strange cats, so we were very nervous about bringing Kyle and Maggie into Yin and Yang's house. This article describes how we created the loving, peaceful home that we have now.
First, we locked Kyle and Maggie in the basement and gave them their own supply of food, water, and litter. This gave them a cooling off period to adjust to the sights and smells of their new home. By segregating the new cats from the resident cats, we hoped to prevent fighting among them during this period.
Next, we had the two pairs trade places by allowing Kyle and Maggie to explore the upper floors of the house while Yin and Yang were locked in the basement. The theory here was that Kyle and Maggie could explore their new surroundings in peace without the fear of being harassed by the two natives.
The third step involved a series of controlled, supervised introductions among the four cats. This way, we could be there to intervene if the claws came out. (Ooops, they are all de-clawed. Never mind.)
As you can imagine, this is a very labor intensive, stressful process for the humans and is not a task that should be undertaken lightly. (It's amazing that a cute, cuddly creature like a cat can make such a freaking-loud scream. We will have nightmares about that for the rest of our lives.) It requires patience and love to help your feline friends find a peaceful coexistence that runs contrary to thousands of years of innate behavior.
Five weeks later . . .
We had had enough of that crap and were at our wit's end, close to giving up. No cats, no matter how cute, were worth all this effort. What do they do besides eat, sleep, fill the litter box, and chew on your house plants, anyway?
After all that, we did actually find a solution that worked. We let the cats have the run of the house and locked ourselves in the basement. They all get along splendidly, now, but we have been subservient to them ever since. Sigh.
Next in our series of cat-care articles:
The Queen, the Lover, the Clown, and the Clueless--how cats establish hierarchies in captivity.
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